Instruments of the Orchestra

1. Instruments of the Orchestra How they work

2. The woodwind section • Although called woodwind, not many of these instruments are made of wood any more. Modern wind instruments can be made of wood, metal or even plastic.

3. What makes a wind instrument? • Basically, a woodwind (or wind) instrument is one which is played by vibrating a column of air (by blowing!). You do this either with a reed or by blowing into or across a hole. • Unlike brass instruments, wind players do not blow raspberries. They are much more civilised…..

4. Orchestral wind instruments • The flute (highest), oboe, clarinet and bassoon (lowest) are the four orchestral wind instruments. • All these instruments have relatives, some of whom appear in the orchestra, some of whom appear in other types of ensemble.

5. The flute • The only orchestral wind instrument not to have a reed. • The flute has a smaller relative – the piccolo. • The flute is related to the recorder, and works in a similar way – the vibrating column of air is made longer or shorter by covering holes with your fingers. The more holes covered, the lower the note!

6. The column of air in a flute is made to vibrate by blowing across a hole at the top.

7. Oboe • The oboe has a double reed – two bits of thin wood bound together which buzz when you blow (ever tried that with two blades of grass?)

8. Again – holes are covered to make higher or lower sounds. • The oboe has a reedy, bright tone which cuts through the orchestra. It has a larger relative called the cor anglais

9. The clarinet • The clarinet has a single reed, attached to a mouthpiece, as shown below

10. The clarinet has a more mellow tone than the oboe or bassoon. You can also get bass clarinets and piccolo clarinets. • The saxophone is a relative of the clarinet – and though you don’t usually find it in the orchestra, it is definitely a wind instrument!

11. The bassoon • The bassoon, and it’s larger relative the double bassoon, are the lowest and biggest wind instruments. • Like the oboe, the bassoon uses a double reed. • Because of it’s size, the bassoon has a complicated mechanism of keys to allow all the holes to be covered.

12. The wind family • Listen to some examples of wind instruments, and get familiar with their sounds. Click here • Try to place the wind instruments in the right place on a diagram of the orchestra

13. Brass instruments • Click on the links below to find out about the brass section See and hear brass instruments All about brass instruments

14. The Percussion Section • This is by far the largest section of the orchestra • Percussionists are different to other musicians as they have to be able to play every instrument in their section. • We can divide percussion into various categories

15. Percussion instrument types • You can divide percussion instruments up according to the material they use: wood skin skin

16. You can also divide percussion instruments into two groups – tuned (ones which can play actual pitched notes) and untuned (ones which only play sounds) • More about percussion • Detail about percussion instruments

17. String Instruments • There are four main string instruments – violin, viola, ‘cello and double bass • The harp is also considered a member of the string family by some people, though others think of it as a whole orchestral section by itself! • Click here for information about string instruments • More information